In commercial mushroom culture, a bed of growth medium is prepared from any or a combination of organic materials such as horse manure, bagasse, crop residue, animal bedding, chicken feathers and any of a host of other substances such as hay, gypsum, sawdust, straw, soybean products, urea and the like. The growth medium is then inoculated with mushroom spawn. Mushroom spawn is comprised of an organic carrier, such as partially cooked grain, optional and well-known adjuvants, such as pH controlling agents, and mushroom mycelium. The mycelium is conventionally grown in situ and derives from an inoculum produced from the species or variety of mushroom to be grown. The inoculated grain or other substrate is then allowed to incubate under conditions of time, temperature and humidity applicable to the particular species being grown. The inoculum invades the substrate with networks of mycelium to form the spawn.
The spawn, that is the substrate with attendant mycelium, is then applied to the growth medium. The mushroom mycelium invades the growth medium, deriving nutrition therefrom. The resulting myceliar network provides the basis for subsequent fruiting of mushrooms from the mushroom bed. In accordance with certain preferred aspects of mycoculture, a casing material is applied to the bed some time after application of the spawn to it. Casing material, which is known per se, is a further organic material. It is believed to spur the rapid and profound development of mushroom fruit from the bed.
After an initial development or "break" of mushrooms from a bed and their harvest, a further period of time will typically find the emergence of one or more further breaks for harvest. In some practices, additional nutrients are applied to the bed to provoke or nourish such further development. All of the foregoing are well known to persons of ordinary skill in the art and science of mycoculture. Such persons will further appreciate that a very wide range of organic materials may be used in such culture, however the large majority of materials commonly used are monotonic in color. That is, all of the materials typically used, the growth medium, the spawn, casing material and nutrient layers are generally a shade of light brown or tan to dark brown in color. It can be difficult to achieve uniform application of spawn to growth medium in a bed, to apply casing material in a uniform layer and to nourish beds uniformly following an initial break of mushrooms such that maximum re-fruiting occurs.
It is clearly desired to achieve improved uniformity of application of all such materials, denominated "mushroom culture materials" so as to minimize the amount used, thus minimizing materials, storage, transportation and labor costs. The present invention is directed to this long-felt need.